LOS ANGELES, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- The makers of the Oscar-nominated movie Spotlight and one of its stars joined a group of about 20 protesters in front of a Los Angeles Catholic church to protest sexual abuse just hours before Sunday's Oscar ceremony.

Most of the protesters, actual victims of abuse by Catholic priests, invited the actor Mark Ruffalo and writer/director Tom McCarthy and co writer Josh Singer to join the protest, staged outside Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels in downtown Los Angeles.